


Just You, Me, & the Sea

by wonwhale (ranithepirate)



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band), Subnautica (Video Game)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alien Planet, Alternate Universe - Future, Alternate Universe - Space, Drabble Collection, Drama, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Eventual Romance, M/M, Non-Linear Narrative, Slice of Life, Stranded, Subnautica AU, Wilderness Survival
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-09
Updated: 2018-03-20
Packaged: 2019-03-28 04:07:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,893
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13895901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ranithepirate/pseuds/wonwhale
Summary: When a surveying spacecraft, Pledis 17, is struck down by a mysterious energy pulse near Planet 4546B, it leads to a crash-land on the surface of the unknown planet. Research team leader Wonwoo Jeon awakens terrified and alone inside the cramped confines of life pod five with a concussion and the sinking realization that he may be the sole survivor—until a familiar voice crackles to life on the radio transmitter:[“I repeat, this is Pledis 17’s exploration team leader Soonyoung Kwon. Is… is there anyone else alive out here?”]





	1. 5 hours after the crash.

**Author's Note:**

> "A ship in harbor is safe—but that is not what ships are built for." 
> 
> \- John A. Shedd

 

 

Wonwoo’s head is throbbing when he awakens with a jolt, still strapped his seat as smoke fills his lungs. He coughs, eyes tearing up from the thick black clouds, and when his vision finally adjusts he realizes with increasing panic that the interior of his life pod is _on fire_. He struggles to free himself from the belts, hands shaking as the fire continues to grow in the cramped space, creeping along the pristine white panels as they start to corner him.

Jumping to his feet the second the straps release, Wonwoo stumbles towards the fire extinguisher mounted on the wall just on the opposite side of the life pod. The floor is unstable, swaying slightly underfoot, although it might just seem that way because of his concussion. Wonwoo extinguishes the flames much faster than he thought he would be able to, coughing violently as he falls back against the inner wall and stares up at the closed hatch overhead.

The life pod is just barely large enough to fit him fully lying down in any direction, and if he reaches up, his fingers could just barely brush against the top. There is a ladder directly in the center which connects to two exits, one at the top and the other at the bottom. Above, he sees an orange sky through the hatch window, and below there is dark green water, which explains the constant sway: the life pod is floating on a body of water.

He needs to climb up and take a look at where he is, but Wonwoo clutches his aching skull instead, wiping away blood dripping from the large bump on the side of his head. He remembers climbing into the life pod just hours earlier, alarms blaring and screams coming from everywhere as the Pledis 17 was struck a second time by the strange pulse wave. His life pod had some trouble ejecting after that, just barely launching him out of the spaceship on time and sending him hurtling through the planet’s atmosphere like a meteorite. A wall plate had come loose during the fall and struck him directly in the head and caused him to black out, before he finally came to hours later in his current situation.

Wonwoo takes out his holographic PDA, praying that it works and has some sort of useful information on it, like announcements from the captain or the crew, anything really that could help him. It turns on and begins rebooting immediately, but just before his spirits can lift in expectation, an automated voice announces that the Pledis 17 is offline and that he only had initial emergency information on the damn thing and nothing else.

An incredibly uneasy feeling settles deep in the pit of his stomach, making him feel sick as he thinks of how he was probably stranded here with no definite idea of where he is or what will happen next. Wonwoo’s body quickly grows heavy and sore as the seconds go by, his head throbbing fiercely from the concussion. He can’t bring himself to get up and check on the radio or the fabricator on wall, eyelids drooping as fatigue creeps into his brain; he knows he shouldn’t doze off, not like this, not with a brain injury, but he can’t fight the symptoms. He wonders offhandedly if he’ll die here, all alone, where no one will ever find him.

Just then, as suddenly as he’d woken up, the wall mounted emergency radio transmitter flickers to life despite the electrical sparks coming out of it in every direction. A familiar voice Wonwoo thought he’d never get to hear again crackles out of the speaker, sounding as uncertain and afraid as Wonwoo feels inside:

[ _“This is Pledis 17’s exploration team leader, Soonyoung Kwon. This is my fifth broadcast in the past five hours and I have yet to gain a response. I’m located in life pod ten and I seem to have landed just off-shore of an unknown island, and there is nothing else but water in every other direction._

 _I repeat, this is Pledis 17’s exploration team leader Soonyoung Kwon. Is… is there anyone else alive out here?”_ ]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this will be a drabble series that i'll update whenever i can! each chapter is a snapshot in the storyline, set both before and after the crash, as soonwoo learn to put away their differences. i've never done this drabble format before so i hope i can make it enjoyable~


	2. 236 days earlier.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'll edit this in the morning, sorry for now uwu

 

 

“Are you sure it was a good idea to sign up for the Pledis 17 expedition?”

Soonyoung looks up to see Jihoon taking a seat across from him at their usual table in the space station cafeteria, pressing a button on the corner that made the sachets in each compartment liquefy and turn into steaming hot food.

“Uh, of course. Why wouldn’t it be?” Soonyoung answers, watching his friend eat with envy; Soonyoung had already inhaled his entire portion, but since he needed to be lean and fit for the expedition, he couldn’t eat three trays worth of food like he usually did, at least not if he was trying to follow his new diet and exercise plan. For now, he could only watch Jihoon do it for him instead.

“Because I heard from Junhui that—” Jihoon begins, and Soonyoung already doesn’t like where this is going, gut twisting in anger because Junhui’s name always came attached with— “Wonwoo’s research team is going, too.”

Soonyoung groans immediately at the mention of Wonwoo’s name, slamming his fists down on the table and earning them looks from all the other people in the station cafeteria. “Of-fucking-course he is!” he cries out, throwing back his head in frustration. Going on the expedition had been his way of getting away from that asshole to begin with. Since they were both in the same graduating class as well as headliners of their respective classifications, the two of them were always working together on surveying operations ever since they were dispatched to this space station four years ago.

Honestly things would be fine if Wonwoo didn’t seriously think that they could learn everything they needed to know about a planet with a well-placed satellite and lots of research samples. Honestly Wonwoo would stay cooped up in a laboratory his whole life interacting with the world through VR modules if he had his way, meanwhile Soonyoung would be out of a career, winding up cleaning wormhole plasma from spacecraft windows at some refueling station for the rest of his life.

“Please, _please_ tell me you’re kidding,” Soonyoung begs, already regretting his life choices. He couldn’t even back out of the expedition now; once you sign up and get accepted, you’re on it for good. “Or at least, please tell me you signed up your team to go, too? Or even anyone else for that matter, to make this more tolerable. _Please_.”

Jihoon just shakes his head indifferently, more interested in shoveling food into his mouth. “I just went on the Pledis 16 expedition, remember? Got back last month. My team isn’t up for another go so soon. Other than you and Wonwoo, I haven’t heard from anyone else about it. And anyway, I think you’re being overdramatic—you should give Wonwoo credit where he deserves,” Jihoon adds, licking the sauce on his spoon clean before digging in again into another compartment. “It makes sense to understand your surroundings before jumping into them headfirst the way you always do.”

“Oh no, not you, too!” Soonyoung whines, pouting even when Jihoon looks back at him with his nose wrinkled in mild disgust at his expression. “Don’t tell me that all the enterprise teams side with the research teams’ worldview. Whose droids do you think are going out and getting those samples for the scientists, anyway? It doesn’t make any sense for them to be in charge if the ones lifting all the weight are the engineers!”

“Technically your automatons are doing all your part of the lifting,” a familiar low voice suddenly adds in a pointed tone. “Also, the research teams lead expeditions because we actually try to understand the surroundings first before trampling around in those goliath prawn suits you engineers call ‘innovative’ and damaging the delicate alien ecosystems we come across.”

Soonyoung is suddenly seething with anger, blood curling under his skin as he whips around and sees none other Wonwoo Jeon standing right behind him, holding an empty tray and looking as arrogant and conceited and self-important and horrible and evil as he always does—Soonyoung wanted to punch the smug leer right off Wonwoo’s face, but then he could get demoted and Wonwoo would have yet another reason to make fun of him.

Next to Wonwoo is Junhui, and he waves sheepishly at Soonyoung before scurrying over to Jihoon at the table to avoid the oncoming conflict; whenever Wonwoo is in the vicinity it’s like Soonyoung suddenly has tunnel vision, so he doesn’t even notice the wave, instead trying his hardest not to commit murder in the middle of the canteen with everyone as a witness.

“We went through the same amount of training, jerk! I can’t believe you’re actually implying that the exploration team is full of bumbling idiots who don’t know how to navigate a fucking alien environment,” Soonyoung grits out through clenched teeth, trying to burn a hole through Wonwoo’s head with his eyes; it has no such desired effect, but it’s the thought that counts.

“Your words, not mine,” Wonwoo retorts easily, tossing his emptied tray in the recycling bot before heading towards the cafeteria exit without a single glance back. Offended beyond belief, Soonyoung feels just about ready to burst at the seams; he absolutely won’t let Wonwoo off that easily, especially not without getting in the last word for himself. He follows the taller man out of the canteen, hot on his heels and leaving behind a trail of expletives in his wake.


	3. 8 hours after the crash.

 

 

The next time he comes to, Wonwoo is dizzy and confused. His head swims as his bleary eyes blink up and try to focus on the face hovering only a few inches above his, the unidentifiable person’s hands bloody as they attend to the gash on Wonwoo’s head. His skin feels numb around the wound, which could only mean that the numbing gel from the first-aid kit was used on his head, _or_ he’s finally died and is experiencing some form of afterlife.

Wonwoo smiles groggily up at the being, grateful to see a familiar face. Do all angels look like Soonyoung? Unless this was hell, then it would make a little more sense.

“You’re not dead,” the Soonyoung-lookalike answers wryly, like he could read his mind. “And I can’t read your mind, Wonwoo. You’re just thinking out loud. Even with a concussion you’re still a smartass, I see.”

It takes Wonwoo a couple minutes to comprehend what has just been said to him, slowly coming to his senses when he realizes that his head is throbbing fiercely even with the numbing gel too soothe the pain, and that the Soonyoung-lookalike is, in fact, Soonyoung himself.

“What’s going on?” Wonwoo finally thinks to ask, grunting in discomfort as he attempts to sit up and look around, but Soonyoung—the real one, not an angel or a demon or whatever—just pushes him back down with a stern look on his face.

“I just finished stitching up your wound but you’re going to need to take it easy because of that concussion,” Soonyoung explains, falling back from his kneeling position over Wonwoo’s head to sit cross-legged on the floor next to him instead. “Can’t have you dying on me after surviving until now. The bio-scan I took of you with the PDA didn’t show any blood clotting or hemorrhaging, so long as you don’t strain yourself, you won’t die in your sleep. Hopefully anyway.”

Wonwoo stares up blankly as he processes this information, slowly coming more and more into his senses as he takes in their surroundings from where he’s lying on the floor. He’s still in his life pod but now the hatch overhead is open to the outside world, which could only mean that Soonyoung must have found him somehow.

“I think I remember hearing you over the radio, but my body stopped responding before I could do anything about it. I was sure I was going to die.”

“Nah, you would’ve been fine,” Soonyoung assures as he gets up to rummage around the compartments of Wonwoo’s life pod, likely in search of more survival supplies, and the taller man wrinkles his nose in mild disgust when Soonyoung wipes the blood from his hands onto his dive suit before touching anything. It was better than nothing, Wonwoo supposes, but the sterile-environment-loving scientist side of him can’t help from cringing at the blatant disregard of sanitation.

“So how did you find me?” he asks before he can dwell on the action any longer, sitting up much more carefully than before as he continues to watch Soonyoung look around life pod five.

“Luckily you were conscious enough to reboot your PDA, so when you passed out the AI sent out a distress signal. It was a long swim for me to get here though, you could have bled out if I didn’t show up on time.”

Wonwoo chuckles humorlessly at the idea. “Honestly I thought I’d die with your nasally voice over the radio as the last thing I’d ever hear.”

“Wow. You’re welcome for saving you, by the way,” Soonyoung retorts, although he snickers a little before the sound wanes just as fast. The older man pauses mid-search to stare up at the open hatch overhead for a couple beats, expression contemplative as the sounds of the waves outside crashing against the walls of the life pod filter inside. “It could still wind up being the last thing you hear though, just so you know.”

The thought is sobering, and a sense of doom settles deep into the pit of Wonwoo’s stomach when Soonyoung turns around to meet his gaze.


	4. 9 hours after the crash.

 

 

“What would you say are our chances of survival?” Wonwoo asks when Soonyoung fishes out gauze from one of the larger medical kits he’d found and helps Wonwoo wrap it around his head to keep his newly-stitched wound from bleeding into his eyes.

“Well, the PDA gleaned some data while I was swimming over to you,” the engineer explains, his tongue sticking out from the corner of his mouth as he secures the bandage and pulls back a little to check his handiwork. “This planet has twelve hour days and the air here is breathable and nontoxic. Our combined emergency supply materials will probably last us around sixty planetary days, so we have about that long until we’ll need to figure out another way to keep ourselves alive until either help arrives, or we find another way to get out of here.”

Wonwoo’s brain whirs as he takes Soonyoung’s observations into account. “Well since you were able to swim here without dying, it’s possible the water safe and filterable,” he adds, straining to reach for his holographic PDA from where it had been discarded a couple feet away before he passed out earlier. “And if the water turns out to be consumable, that means that we can probably eat some of the local flora and fauna, too. If I tweak our PDAs a little, I bet I can repurpose the bio-scans to help us figure that out for us.”

Wonwoo’s train of thought comes to a halt when Soonyoung suddenly interrupts his feeble attempts at reaching for the PDA, picking it up for him instead and handing it over before settling down next to him. Soonyoung’s expression is somber, albeit hopeful as he searches the taller man’s face. “It’s a bit strange, don’t you think?”

“What is?” Wonwoo asks, skin prickling self-consciously under Soonyoung’s observant gaze as he takes the device.

“For us to be so calm and calculative in a situation like this,” the older man explains, chewing on his lip as he lowers his eyes to stare reflectively at the floor. “I was terrified that I’d be the only one, that I’d have to figure everything out myself. I’ve been trained for situations like this, but… I’m not sure I’d be able to think rationally if I ended up being alone.”

Soonyoung looks up again, and his eyes are teary and red in a way that makes Wonwoo’s insides twist up painfully. “Everyone in our expedition and our teams are dead. And everyone back at the space station probably thinks we’re dead, too.”

Sitting together like this, knowing that they only had each other, Wonwoo realizes that there isn’t anyone else he’d trust with his life the way he implicitly trusts Soonyoung. They’ve always been on opposite sides, but that just means that he knows the extent of his abilities, and Wonwoo has never had anything but respect for that even if he never showed it.

“We’ll figure this out,” Wonwoo tells him, resolve set in his jaw, and Soonyoung stares back at him in surprise. “We owe it to them to survive, don’t we? And to figure out what the hell happened.”

Slowly, a small smile tugs on the corners of Soonyoung’s lips, his eyes still watery but growing more and more determined than before. “Yeah, you’re right,” he says back, taking a deep, shaking breath; it feels like Wonwoo’s insides are shaking too, Soonyoung’s contagious nervous energy bleeding into him as well. “We’ll figure this out. Together.”

If only things were as easy done as said.


	5. 221 days earlier.

 

 

“Don’t tell me you don’t think that this entire situation is absolutely ridiculous?” Soonyoung grumbles, arms crossed and foot tapping impatiently on the tiled glass floor of the elevator as the different levels fly by. “I didn’t even tell anyone about joining the expedition for the longest time. I mean, how does this _always_ happen.”

“I sincerely hope you’re joking,” Minghao tells him with a chuckle, patting Soonyoung’s back in mock pity. “You both are team leaders of your respective classifications that graduated the same year from the same institute. You two practically grew up working together, I really don’t know why you’re surprised that you and Wonwoo are unintentionally taking on the same missions when you’re always doing it.”

Soonyoung scoffs but doesn’t refute the younger man’s words, well-aware that he isn’t wrong; their shared educational background meant that they were both partial to similar jobs as well. “Yeah, well, it doesn’t make teaming with him any more fun,” Soonyoung retorts, just as the doors of the elevator open into the reception office of Wonwoo’s laboratory floor at the space station. Everything here is bright white and perfectly pristine, the wall paneling neat and clean, which is a giant contrast to Soonyoung who is sweaty and grimy and covered in plasma engine matter from fine-tuning his latest bot just minutes before Wonwoo called him up to his lab.

Sure, Soonyoung might look like a complete mess now—the same could be said for the state of his workspace at the base of the space station, although he won’t address the fact that it’s always in a state of disarray because Soonyoung can’t be bothered to clean when he just wants to build all the time—but when Wonwoo sees what his brand-new droid can do during the new tech showcase tomorrow, his stupid dumbfounded expression will be worth the haughty disdain Soonyoung is bound to face in a few minutes.

“And anyway, Wonwoo and I are mortal enemies until he acknowledges that my automatons are just as useful as his stupid VR modules! At this point I’m sure he just says things on purpose to get on my nerves. You can only go so far with surveyor drones! Why is he always like this?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m sure working with your mortal enemy is the most mentally taxing thing in the universe,” Minghao indulges, rolling his eyes as he promptly shoves Soonyoung out the elevator to get off at his stop. “Now hurry off and I’ll see you at the canteen for dinner later. Jeonghan specifically asked for everyone so make sure you and Wonwoo don’t get caught up in each other again and forget to show up like before, otherwise you both might actually die. Joshua can only save you so many times.”

The doors slide shut before Soonyoung can even turn around and sputter out a rebuttal, making a face at his reflection on the surface of the elevator doors before heading towards the laboratory entrance with a long sigh. The receptionist AI bot doesn’t even need to acknowledge Soonyoung when he walks by, which truly attests to just how many times he and Wonwoo have worked together the past few years; at this point Soonyoung just fears that they’ll never stop seeing each other.

The laboratory gates open, spraying Soonyoung with disinfectant steam as he passes through, not that it’ll really do anything considering that plasma matter from droid engines need a different cleaning agent to remove the grease he’s always covered in. One of these days Wonwoo will give up trying to pretend that he’s not a clean-freak and have Soonyoung come and install the plasma disinfectant himself, and Soonyoung grins smugly at the fact; in the end, it’s always the little victories that count.

“Soonyoung! Over here,” Wonwoo’s voice calls for him the second he enters the lab, and the engineer turns around to face the direction of the sound. He spots the taller man in his white lab coat and glasses, situated in front of an electron microscope with a tablet in hand and a deep furrow in his brow as he looks over whatever data he’d gathered. Soonyoung looks around the large space as he heads towards the back of the lab, noting that it is devoid of people and robots.

“Where’s your team?” he questions when he reaches Wonwoo, careful not to touch anything lest he contaminates something important.

“I dismissed everyone for the night. You should know, expedition prep is taxing,” Wonwoo replies, glancing up from his tablet before doing a double take at the state of Soonyoung’s clothes. His nose wrinkles in disgust, although he schools his expression just as fast, and Soonyoung tries not to laugh. “Do you ever shower?”

“I didn’t, just for you,” Soonyoung sings-songs, leaning in close and chuckling when Wonwoo leans so far back he nearly falls off his stool. “I was working on a droid when you called. The showcase is tomorrow, remember?”

“Right. Let me guess: prawn suit version one-four-two, am I right?” the scientist asks pointedly with a raised brow, and Soonyoung’s face heats up because that actually was the exact number he was on now—and knowing Wonwoo, it probably actually was a total guess, too.

“I’d like to see you get it right on the first try, jerk.”

“Yeah, well, if you’d just scrap the damn prawn suit and start again from scratch instead of working a lost cause to death like you always do, then maybe you’d actually get somewhere.”

“Just because you don’t think the prawn suit is worth shit doesn’t mean it isn’t any good, thank you very much. I’ll ask for your input when I actually want it,” Soonyoung bites back. “Let’s just cut to the chase, why did you call me up here? It couldn’t be just to put down my life’s work, right?”

Wonwoo rolls his eyes before handing over the tablet and moving aside to give Soonyoung space in front of the microscope. “Life’s work. _Right_.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I uploaded a lot all at once, I've been working on this all day lol. Leave feedback if you can! I'd love to hear your thoughts so far.


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